​How to Say "Hello" in the World's Most Spoken Languages

jason-oxenham-ceo

May 10, 2016

If you wanted to say hello to everyone on the planet, you'd probably need to learn around 7,000 languages. Fortunately, however, there's a better way to greet as many people on the globe as possible. By learning how to say "hello" in the world's 50 most spoken languages, you would be able to say hello to approximately 80% of the world's population. That's right, you could greet nearly 5.7 billion people!

Before we take a look at how to say hello in some of the world's most spoken languages, it's important to clarify that discovering exactly which languages are the most spoken is no easy task. Despite all of the information available, no sources seem to agree upon the total number of speakers since this information isn't readily available for many languages. Many sources offer information about the total number of native speakers by country, and don't take into account non-native language learners. That's why I opted for the information provided by SIL International's Ethnologue, an online publication dedicated to researching the world's languages. The information included the approximate number of native speakers, and, as always, is an educated estimate.
Are you ready to learn how to say hi in the 50 most spoken languages in the world?

Let's take a trip around the world and learn how to greet 80% of the world's population:

Language

Countries with the Most speakers

# Native Speakers

"Hello"

1.

Mandarin Chinese

China

1.3 billion

你好 [nǐ hǎo] (informal)
您好 [nín hǎo] (formal)

2.

Spanish

Mexico, South America, Spain (31 total)

427 million

Hola

3.

English

North America, Great Britain, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand (106 total)

No Easy Greeting

A quick scan through all of the different ways to say "hello" reveals that a simple greeting is often more complicated than we English speakers imagine. Whether or not the greeting is formal or informal, masculine or feminine, and even the age or religion of the speakers involved can play a role in determining which greeting to use.

Languages reflect cultures and history, and we English speakers are a relatively informal, straightforward group of people. In many cultures, language reflects complex social hierarchies, norms and gender roles, and the best way to learn these languages is to respect and embrace these rules. It may not be easy, but learning a language and how to communicate with its native speakers provides countless benefits and helps you to understand a whole new way of seeing the world.

Hi Alex - Unfortunately with the way the blog is set up we can't currently add audio to blog posts. If there is a particular language that you are interested in then Google Translate should work well enough for that.

Homy--

May 11, 2016

That was very interesting. Some countries or language I have never heard of!
In Iran, where I come from, the widely used word is "salam". Like any Islamic country. But the Original Persian equivalent word is "dorood". Just for info ..

Steven-W15

May 12, 2016

The same is true for Morocco. When I worked in Egypt a very long time ago though, it was relatively rare to hear "salaam" as a greeting; rather it was, "Sabaah el kheer", "Sabaah el noor", "Sabaah el ishta" (good morning, afternoon...) or simply "Ahlan" (welcome). It was also rare to see veils. Now people always greet each other with "salaam".

Dan-H24

May 12, 2016

While in China last fall, I learned exactly two words: nǐ hǎo which was helpful when meeting people, and ganbei, which generally translates as "cheers." I later learned another translation is "dry cup," which explains why they were always filling my glass with the 56% alcohol content "wine" they have there...

Steven-W15

May 14, 2016

Ganbei. Good word. I've got it memorized. The other one with the funny squiggles looks too difficult. Why worry about "hello" when you have "dry cup" in your skill set? I am ready for China.

Robert-C7

May 14, 2016

Those squiggly marks over the letters are tone markers. Gānbēi is actually two high tones. They said that a lot at my wedding.

Steven-W15

May 17, 2016

I call them squiggly marks to showcase my extensive vocabulary. Learning a tonal language must be incredibly difficult. And I've always wondered how one can sing in such a language.

Must have been an interesting wedding. I don't get invited to such classy events as the polite gānbēis get drowned out by raucous cries of dry cup...

Grant-K1

May 20, 2016

Hey Jason, thanks for the info. BTW, it's Australia in the third row second column not Austria. It's a common mistake if you're not an Aussie but it does tend to get on an Australian's nerves when we see that.
Oh another one I picked up on as well, well maybe a bit of an oversight more than a mistake...Canada is not among your list who say "Hello or Hi (unless you're saying they're North American of course)

Regards, Grant

Dan-H24

May 20, 2016

Grant: I am guessing that the Canadians will be just as annoyed at being lumped in with the US as you Aussies are at being mistaken for Austrians. Nothing against Austrians, but given the choice I will hang out with you Aussies any time...you have better accents and bigger beers.

jason-oxenham-ceo

May 22, 2016

Hi Grant - Whoops! Coming from New Zealand you would have thought that I would have picked that one up! Anyway, it is now amended.

Grant-K1

May 23, 2016

Hey thanks Jason, what about Canada?

jason-oxenham-ceo

May 26, 2016

Hi Grant - Canada is covered by being in North America!

Grant-K1

May 26, 2016

Yeah it's funny. To me, Canada is another country. It is north of America. Not North America. You don't call Papua New Guinea "North Australia or South Indonesia"

Dan-H24

May 26, 2016

Not only to you, Grant, but to geographers around the world. The United States, Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, and Greenland are countries on the continent of North America.

This is starting to remind me of the great Randy Newman song, Political Science.

natashawells3080

July 12, 2016

I actually knew ten of these greetings! Audio with it would be great if possible! This article was fun and informative...pardon my geek!

David K

July 19, 2016

Thanks for this great article. I'm surprised to see how many of the most common languages come from the India, Pakestan, and Bangladesh region. But I shouldn't be since there are about 1.5 billion plus people in that area. For some reason I incorrectly thought they all spoke Hindi.
I was also surprise out how many distinct languages there are in China.

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